#and also John Boyega deserved better and I'm glad he's speaking out

[entropyrpgs]

You... have never watched Star Trek have you? Like, actually watched. There are, off the bat, an episode in TOS that literally has people with half black and half white faces who are in a war with people who have half white and half black faces. The first interracial kiss as well. And Kirk, if you actually watch the series, isn’t actually a womanizer. Like the “A woman?” “A crewman” exchange, for one. DS9? Ohhh boy there are a lot of episodes about it INCLUDING actual real world situations. I’ll confess I haven’t seen Voyager or TNG recently but I’m sure I could come up with something if I tried. Wait, just the entireity of Geordi LaForge. And B’Ellana and Spock struggling with thier mixed heritages? Hmmmmmm, how could that POSSIBLY be relevant to the real world. The eugenics wars were based on (surprise) eugenics and how fascism is bad. Klingons are directly based on Russians and the Cold War. VERY easily googleable, took 5 seconds to confirm. I can come up with more but that was literally me not even thinking about it because they are THAT obvious. And Google is your friend here! There are a lot of discussions about these things by fans. It hasn’t suddenly become “PC” because that was the original INTENT of Star Trek, of a world where we were more enlightened and could help others and have empathy.

Also what was the issue with She-Ra? The fact that gay creator put gay people in her story? Somehow it remained popular despite that. Dr. Who? Is it the fact that *gasp* it had a woman as the protagonist (and antagonist as well)? Or is it the lesbians? You realize Dr. Who is uhhhhh not very consistent anyways? So if it’s from that angle... And. Have you ever read a comic book reboot? Amazingly, people change the backgrounds and personalities of characters ALL THE TIME. Sometimes in contradictory ways! For some reason TV can do the same thing! Wild, I know.

(Also IDK, I think the fact that women find it hard to break into the comics industry and the fact that there are apparently a lot of awful men who abuse their power might be related and maybe that’s not a good thing. IDK, just a thought)

Also Star Wars lost money because they made bad movies. She-ra was WILDLY successful. The 13th doctor is also VERY popular if ratings mean anything. (spoiler alert, they do) It’s almost like you don’t know any of these series that well and have a superficial understanding and assumed I would as well. ;) Race and species aren’t interchangeable or there wouldn’t be different terms. Also, again, as an ecologist I can ASSURE you that they are not the same thing. You’re just being lazy tbh. They have distinctive uses (and also taxonomy is kind of a loose science in the first place DO NOT get me started on plants. Citrus is incredibly slutty) but race isn’t quite as accurate as species due to the different traits they have. I had a really nice chart on pregnancy chances between different species but I can’t find it so I’m suspecting it was homebrew. Still, being able to procreate is not the only measure of species  in the first place, just the easiest to measure, and not all scientists agree on that anyways. I never said “orcs are real” but they are in fact based in real life caricatures. This is PRETTY easily googled. Like come on. I know you want things to be nice and simple but in the REAL WORLD they aren’t. It must be nice to live in that bubble. But also you’re cute little comic really just shows bad DMing and party management. If one person disagrees that strongly then uhhhh that’s not the right group for them, and I’d be asking them if they really wanted to be there. But really, that specific person is being an asshole. And AMAZINGLY absolutely none of the groups I’ve been in have been like that, even if we disagree on elements. Almost like we’re adults who can talk things out. Amazing. Almost like people like that don’t exist. The lesson for all of you who read this far and ACTUALLY follow this blog is this: Listen to your group, whether as DM or player. If your DM is being a jerk, try to discuss whether that’s something you all disagree with. if a player is being a jerk then speak with the DM or, as the DM, discuss that with them. And if you’re not comfortable with something homebrew is an excellent route and guides like this help. Also science fiction and fantasy media almost always draws from real life, so if you don’t see the parallels you are probably not looking hard enough. Take a moment to reflect if you need to. Maybe it’ll even make you a better person.

Also if you want to talk star trek please DM me! I’d love to chat your ear off. I love star trek so much y’all and it’s a crime how much people misunderstand it and say... make a reboot that misunderstands all of the characters and they admit to literally never watching an episode but for some reason they’re more qualified than I am.

Ancestry & Culture: An alternative to Race in 5e

I just got my physical copy of this wonderful tome by Arcanist Press! It has a great introduction that explains why the use of the term “Race” in our beloved role-playing games is so problematic, and then offers a great solution for it that fits right in-between existing 5e rules.

We’ve been looking for a good alternative to “Race” for the character options we publish on our patreon, and we’re now going to do some tests to see if this model is something we could use.

I highly recommend you check it out! The free preview on DiveThruRPG includes the introduction & full rules for alternate character creation.

Find it here 👉 Ancestry & Culture